And Hair Of Gold
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day two hundred and forty: Sue doesn't know what it is about seeing Brittany wave her hair about that upsets her.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th cycle. Now cycle 12!_

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**"And Hair of Gold"  
Sue & Brittany  
Sylvesters series #8 (follows 'Story Time')**

When she was little, she would have 'hair phases,' where for a good while she would only want her hair one way. A week of ponytails, two months of braids, a week and a half of pigtails… Her mother knew arguing would only get her the most disarming set of pleading eyes and so she would find no way but to comply. Brittany would usually hear a low kind of rambling as her mother would be working at it.

As she'd grown, she had become able to fix her hair herself; the braids had taken a while to master. By then she had grown out of her hair phases. And before long she had also joined the Cheerios, which took most of her hair choices out of her weekday equation. From that point on, it was a ponytail after another. When she didn't have to have it, she'd tend to go ahead and give her hair and her head a rest. What was for certain was that she used this hair to its full power.

When Mr. Schuester had become preoccupied with Hairography, she had offered to show the others how to do it. She'd reached to the top of her ponytail and pulled the elastic band away in one fluid motion, letting her blonde hair fall free. She liked Hairography, for reasons she wasn't sure she could explain, and after a moment, she'd demonstrated it to the others.

Out in the hall, Sue Sylvester was on her way to see Figgins but, as she would inevitably do whenever she passed the room knowing any or all of them would be inside, she took a quick look through the window. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a flurry of whipping blonde hair, and her passing glance shifted into a fixed stare.

She didn't know what it was about it; she already knew full well that her daughter liked being in Glee Club, despite all efforts she'd put out, even including her into them. Even if she would have wanted to do otherwise, it was already there, so there was nothing new on that front that could have been upsetting to her, but there was something… she kept looking…

She blinked and backed off when she realized Schuester had spotted her, quickly directing her attentions on to the water fountain. He came out to argue with her, and she easily slipped out of her previous focus and into duelling mode when put up against Schuester's feeble attempts. She stomped back toward her office, forgetting all about Figgins as she waited…

After Mr. Schuester had come back in, he'd spoken with all of them, though Brittany wasn't really paying attention, just sitting back with Santana, who would carefully brush out her tossed-about hair. She hadn't bothered to put it back up in its ponytail yet, didn't think of it. When they were done, they left the Glee room, chuckling along about how the boys were doing with their wigs…

"Brittany!" the coach's voice cut across the hall, and the girls looked back, with that gaze mastered by every Cheerio under Sue Sylvester's leadership – good and fearful caution. Brittany looked back to Santana, smile gone.

"I have to go," she mumbled before shuffling off to join her mother in her office. She saw her staring back, the closer she got… She didn't look too happy. That wasn't all that out of the ordinary, but Brittany could tell the difference. She hurried to go and sit, but as she had reached the chair, "Not yet," her mother instructed her, and she straightened back up. "Want to tell me what was going on back there?" she asked, indicating for Brittany to turn around.

"Hairography," Brittany simply answered as she turned. A moment later she started at feeling her mother's hands, pulling her hair back up together in that tight ponytail formation. She tried to keep up as her head was pulled left and right.

"Here I thought you liked being a Cheerio," Sue went on, holding her hand out for the elastic band around her daughter's wrist. When she got it, she started tying up the newly reformed ponytail.

"I do… I do," she repeated as the band snapped into place and she turned back to her coach/mother.

Sue looked at her, observed her close, once again looking one of them, like she belonged with them and with her. It was as much a reminder to Brittany as it was to her. She sighed, nodded.

"Alright, go," she nodded to the door, watched her go, swaying ponytail and all.

THE END


End file.
